The Bears were on their heels from the beginning, as they were outshot 15-1 in the first half. Dylan Stone scored in the 38th minute for the Battling Bishops after they had missed a number of quality chances.

Earlier in the half, the Bears were lucky not to give up a penalty after an Ohio Wesleyan attacker was brought down in the box. Ohio poured in a number of dangerous crosses but failed to get on the end of any of them.

The Bears came out running in the second half. They began pressing farther up the field and creating more opportunities because of it.

Perhaps the Bears’ two best chances came early into the second half. The first was created in the 56th minute by senior Cody Costakis’ through ball to senior Dylan Roman, who beat his defender with speed but whose one-on-one shot was stopped at point-blank range by the Battling Bishops’ goalkeeper Paul Hendricks.

The second opportunity was created two minutes later by senior Peter Jebson at the near post. Jebson turned his defender around, but his shot fizzled wide.

Ohio Wesleyan had a chance to double their lead late with an 85th-minute penalty kick, but sophomore goalie Jonathan Jebson made a diving save to his left to keep the Red and Green in the game. However, the Battling Bishops held on to preserve the 1-0 score line in their favor.

The breakthrough came off a corner from senior Cody Costakis. Senior center back Kenji Kobayashi headed it across the box, and junior midfielder Zachary Query headed down the uncleared ball towards Jebson, who redirected it into the back of the net.

The Bears had a number of breakaway chances to increase their lead after the goal but the Warhawk goal keeper, Matt Mikesell, stopped them all to keep score at 2-1.

“We would take a touch in the box, and it would be inches away from where it needs to be, or we’d find a guy on a pass and it’d be inches away from him,” Query said.

With the win, the Bears have earned the right to play No. 5 Ohio Wesleyan University in the second round on Sunday, one of the four teams with a bye. Last year, Wash. U. had a bye but lost their opening match to Loras College.

“Last year we had a bye, and it kind of threw us off, so here we got to play the first round and get the feel of things,” Query said.

Wash. U. scored the game’s opening goal in the 48th minute. Senior Patrick McLean picked off a pass deep in the Whitewater end and calmly the passed the ball to wide open sophomore Jeremy Kirkwood, whose toe poke rolled pass the keeper into the left side of the net.

Whitewater answered in the 61st with a goal by junior forward Logan Fye off a quick throw-in. Fye’s one-time shot beat Jonathan Jebson to the top left corner.

See Monday’s issue of Student Life for a full recap of the weekend’s action.

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Junior Emily Gosché, Senior Emma Brown, Sophomore Lauren Steimle, Sophomore Jen Reed, and Senior Alyssa Marulli line up on Francis Field before a game against Carnegie Mellon on October 2.

With the regular season successes of the Washington University volleyball, cross country and men’s and women’s soccer teams, a postseason berth was essentially a foregone conclusion for all four teams.

But the volleyball team and both soccer teams received additional good news on Monday, when the postseason brackets were released and all three found out that they would be hosting opening-round matches in the postseason.

Here’s a quick look at each of those three teams—along with the cross country teams, which will travel to Rock Island, Ill., for the NCAA Midwest Regional—and their looming postseason opponents.

Ending the regular season with a 14-3-1 record and a share of the University Athletic Association title, the Bears will open up postseason play against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Thursday evening at Francis Field. Whitewater, which finished the season as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference champion with an 11-7-1 record, will be facing the Bears for the first time in history. Wash. U. is making its second consecutive tournament appearance and 20th overall, and it is seeking its first postseason win since 2007 when it reached the NCAA quarterfinals. The Bears are looking to improve their postseason track record after a heartbreaking loss in last season’s second round, in which they lost in penalty kicks to Loras College.

If the Bears win, they will travel to Delaware, Ohio, to face No. 6 Ohio Wesleyan University on Sunday. While Wash. U. has not played OWU since 1990, the Bears are 5-2 all-time against the Bishops.

The women’s team was rewarded for its 15-4 regular season campaign with a shot at home-field advantage in each of the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Bears have won at least one postseason game each year since 2006, and will be looking to continue that streak by beating Thomas More College in the opening round on Saturday. Thomas More comes in as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference champions, sporting a 12-4-1 record. The Saints will also be facing Wash. U. for the first time ever.

Eric Chalifour | Student Life

Junior Marilee Fisher plays against Webster University on Wedneday, October 26. The Bears scored a 3-0 victory Wednesday and defeated all rivals this weekend to win the Halloween Classic.

The Bears would host the winner between Ohio Wesleyan University (12-4-4) and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (12-6-3) if they advance to the second round. Wash. U. is 2-0 all time against OWU and 1-0 against Whitewater.

With a 32-1 record and the 2011 UAA championship to its name, the volleyball team will begin its 25th straight postseason appearance in the Washington University Field House. The Bears are very familiar with their opening-round opponent: cross-town rival Webster, which has never beaten Wash. U. in 19 tries (including a 3-0 Bears win on Oct. 26).

The Bears’ opponent in the second round would be either UAA rival No. 15 Chicago (the first team to beat Wash. U. in a set in 2011, during a 3-1 Bears win on Oct. 15) or No. 21 Wisconsin-Whitewater (whom the Bears defeated 3-0 on Sept. 10). Among the potential Regional Championship match opponents is No. 9 Carthage College, whom the Bears have faced and swept four times since the 2009 season, including a 3-0 win on Sept. 9 of this season.

With the cross country teams having another strong year, as both the men’s and women’s squads are in the top five of the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) Poll, both have high aspirations heading into the regional meet on Saturday morning. The men’s team enters the race as the Midwest region’s No. 2 team, behind only defending regional champion and USTFCCCA No. 1 overall North Central College. The team will look to improve on its fourth-place regional finish in 2010, and will be facing some of the country’s best in North Central, No. 5 Wheaton, and No. 8 Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The women’s team, which trails only Williams College in the overall national rankings, enters the weekend as the Midwest’s No. 1 team. The team will be looking to take the Midwest regional title from No. 7 overall Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which won the regional title in 2010.

The Bears took the title with a 2-0 win against the University of Chicago. Case Western Reserve University took home the other half of the conference championship and the automatic NCAA tournament bid associated with it because of a 2-1 victory over Wash. U. on Oct. 30.

“We had most of our players back from injury, so that helped,” head coach Joe Clarke said. “We came with the mindset knowing we had to win, and Chicago is a good team despite what their record says.”

Starting goalie Jonathan Jebson returned to the lineup after leaving the previous game because of injury; midfielders Michael Flowers and Jeremy Kirkwood also returned from injuries. All three played important roles in the victory.

“[Jonathan Jebson] made a lot of saves,” Clarke said. “[Sophomore] Michael [McCarthy] did a great job in his place last game, but [Jebson] is a special goalie.”

Jebson, a sophomore, made four saves on Saturday, recording his eighth shutout in the process and bringing his goals against average down to 0.56. Wash. U. was second in the UAA with just 13 goals allowed.

“We knew we needed to win coming into the game,” Jebson said. “We were rattled the week before with two losses, but we only have three losses on the season, so we knew we just needed to play our game.”

Kirkwood scored the game’s first and winning goal in the 39th minute. Despite a tight angle, he managed to beat the keeper to the upper corner. Senior Cody Costakis was credited with the assist. It was Kirkwood’s fifth goal of the season and Costakis’ eighth assist, giving him the team lead with 18 points.

Freshman Pay Estakhri scored the game’s second and final goal in the 72nd minute, clinching the victory. Costakis was involved again with a long ball that beat the Chicago defense. This time Brian Wright was credited with the assist. It was Estakhri’s second goal of the season.

“I’ve been trying to find time for Pay [Estakhri] to play this season,” Clarke said. “He’s gotten a lot of time due to injuries, and he’s done really well during the time he’s been on the field.”

Despite being outshot 16-12, Wash. U. was able to control the ball and the tempo, leading Chicago in corner kicks 7-1. Wash. U. has scored a number of goals off corner kicks this season, and Clarke said corners were something they did rehearse a lot in practice.

“We won because we played hard and worked really hard,” Clarke said. “Chicago put a lot of pressure on us, but we managed to control the flow of the game.”

The NCAA tournament starts on Nov. 10, and the seeding will be released later today. It is a 60-team single-elimination tournament. The top four seeds receive first-round byes.

“We want to build off the Chicago game and ignore the losses. Our first tournament game is huge,” Jebson said. “Definitely we need to close up the spaces, stop fouling and block shots. It’s all about putting your body on the line and seeing who will sacrifice for the win.

“We want to prove to the country how good we are.”

While Washington University fans might be accustomed to seeing the men’s soccer team in red and white game-day garb, a new team project has players dressed in cowboy hats, swim trunks and fanny packs.

Players have filmed comic videos of themselves singing and dancing on four road trips this season and intend to continue this experiment in music video production. Videos of the team breaking it down have found a following resulting in thousands of YouTube hits.

Last year, during the University’s snow day, players decided to record a video of themselves lip-syncing to the Yung Humma song “Lemme Smang It” for team entertainment. Although players originally intended to only show the videos to themselves, this season the videos are posted on YouTube and filming has become a WUSTL FC tradition. When they’re not taking corner kicks or blocking shots, team members are serenading each other on airplanes, recreating a rollercoaster on metal bleachers or interrupting a study session in nothing but swim suits. No song is too silly and no bystander is safe.

“We decided to take up our time on the road trips we would start creating videos,” junior forward Zachary Query said. “After the first one we just had such a good time, we decided to continue with the tradition—and we’re actually undefeated on the road trips when we make videos.”

Each YouTube upload features players lip-syncing a different song while dancing and joking around in different cities; one features Waka Flocka Flame’s “No Hands” in Memphis, another, the Far East Movement’s “Rocketeer” in Atlanta, yet another, Taylor Swift’s “Mean” in New York City and most recently, The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA” in Dubuque, Iowa.

“Basically [players] just dance a lot and I have the video camera on most of the time–especially when our coaches are talking, or dancing,” senior forward Dylan Roman, who films and edits the majority of footage, said. “At the end of the trips or during the trips…I sort of just put it to the song and see what we need, and then at the end of the trips we fill in the last bit of lyrics and hopefully it turns out well.”

Players joked that “they don’t choose the song, the song chooses them”; on the road they will play the track frequently to catch moments of singing along or miming to a specific lyric–but not all action is improvised.

“We pick the theme for outfits a couple days in advance, we pick the song a couple days before, and people start to get really excited about what we can do with it,” senior midfielder Zach Hendrickson said. “The one in New York for ‘Mean’ definitely had the most planning involved, and choreography. We filmed particular scenes in important places and things like that.”

The videos feature players in a variety of zany costumes and situations. In the “Mean” video the team is seen decked out in plaid shirts and jeans as cowboys while singing and square dancing with the famous “Naked Cowboy” in Times Square. This production has proved to be the team’s most popular thus far with more than 1,800 views on YouTube.

In New York City, players received a variety of reactions from passersby–some applauded their choreographed dance sequence, others stopped to see what might be distracting nine boys pointing off into the distance, and the team even had a run-in with law enforcement.

“We got censored at 30 Rockerfeller Center,” senior midfielder Kevin Privalle said. “We were trying to do something and they just saw a ton of people; a guard told us we had to leave.”

For the song “Rocketeer” some players are featured in satiric tourist garb, donning belted khaki shorts and Hawaiian shirts while wearing oversized headphones and fanny packs as accessories. Airport security can only gaze as team members waltz through check-in enthusiastically giving a thumbs-up to Roman’s camera.

According to senior captain Michael Chamberlin, the team’s decision to wear costumes originated from head coach Joe Clarke’s flexibility with what players wear while traveling.

“Joe doesn’t make us all wear the same thing on road trips like some teams do so we decided to start off by kind of making a joke of that and all dressing the same but with our own idea of how we wanted to dress,” Chamberlin said. “It’s evolved into having costume days and theme days every time we travel. The bar is set every trip by [senior midfielder] Cody Costakis who just goes above and beyond with his costumes.”

Although the players do the majority of the performing in videos, notable guest appearances are made by assistant coach Rick Rone, Clarke and a bugle-playing Boy Scout the team encountered at a rest stop en route to Boston.

“I don’t think [the coaches] enjoy being in the videos as much but they definitely enjoy watching the finished product,” Query said.

The Bears travel to the University of Chicago this weekend and intend to produce another video during the trip. The team has a chance to clinch the University Athletic Association title with a victory, and would otherwise receive word of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on Monday, Nov. 14.

Student Life Newspaper | Student Life

Senior Dylan Roman charges past the defense of Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday evening for a 3-0 win. On Saturday evening, the soccer team played against Loras College with a 0-0 score.

Senior forward Pat McLean missed a penalty kick in the 86th minute, but sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Jebson saved eight Loras shots on goal to preserve the shutout, his third in a row and eighth of the season, through two overtime periods.

“The tie was disappointing because we felt we had the better of the chances,” senior midfielder and co-captain Michael Chamberlin said. “Our forwards played great today and helped us take a step forward towards how we want to be playing at the end of the season.”

The game was a matchup of two teams ranked No. 1 in their respective regions, as well as a rematch of last year’s second-round NCAA tournament game. Loras ousted Wash. U. in penalty kicks after the game ended in a 1-1 draw in regulation.

The Bears (13-1-1) outshot Loras 17-15 in the game but managed only three shots through the two overtime periods. Jebson made one save in each of the overtime periods while Wash. U. did not muster a shot on goal.

“Jono [Jebson] is at the top of his game right now. He has been instilling a lot of confidence in our back line with his dominant play,” senior midfielder and co-captain Cody Costakis said. “The string of shutouts we have had is only proof of it.”

In the 85th minute, the Red and Green caught a break when sophomore forward Jeremy Kirkwood was taken down in the box. McLean stepped up, but his shot was saved cleanly by Loras goalkeeper Nate DuBois.

Neither team held possession well in overtime, as both teams used the counter attack and moved quickly up and down the field.

On Wednesday night, Oct. 19, the Bears defeated Illinois Wesleyan University 3-0 at Francis Field. Senior Peter Jebson got the scoring started early, and junior Zach Query added two more goals to seal the win.

“Our forwards finish their chances very well. When we have a lot of the ball like we did against IWU, they can put games away,” Chamberlain said.

Jebson took a cross from McLean in the ninth minute and fired his shot off the post, but Jebson collected the rebound from five yards out and scored the first goal of his career.

Query scored on a header from a cross by senior Dylan Roman in the 41st minute and added the final goal in the 70th minute with a long shot past a diving goalkeeper off a pass from Costakis.

“I think we were subpar against IWU, but they did not make us pay on some of our positioning,” Costakis said. “Our forwards just continue to score and lead the team.”

Wash. U. hosts two University Athletic Association foes next weekend: University of Rochester on Oct. 28 and Case Western Reserve University on Oct. 30.

“We played a top-notch game [Sunday] and we have to be proud with the work we’ve done to get us to this level,” Costakis said. “We could have had a better result today, but we have already started looking forward to this next weekend.”

The Bears defeated the Brandeis University Judges 2-0 on Sunday and the New York University Violets 2-1 on Friday night, extending their winning streak to five games.

The Judges pressed the Bears hard during the first portion of the game, disrupting the Bears’ possession-oriented style of play.

“In our recent games, we’ve played better teams that put more pressure on us,” senior forward Dylan Roman said. “They’ve made it harder to pass the ball around.”

The Bears made a breakthrough in the 39th minute off a corner kick. Seniors Cody Costakis and Zach Hendrickson each recorded an assist, as senior Michael Chamberlin headed home the game’s first goal. Costakis now leads the team with six assists, the second most in the conference.

“It was a chippy game,” Roman said. “There was a lot of hard play and non-calls. The referee wasn’t calling anything.”

The Red and Green put away the insurance goal in the 84th minute. Roman assisted junior Zachary Query in converting a 2-on-1 situation, set up by senior midfielder Patrick McLean’s through ball.

The Bears were outshot 17 to 9 by the Judges, but sophomore goalie Jonathan Jebson made a career high nine saves to preserve the shutout. Jebson has a 0.61 goals against average this season with five shutouts in 13 games.

“We knew these games were going to be challenging and the centerbacks have stepped up a lot,” Jebson said. “The whole five-man rotation has played well.”

The Friday night game against New York University was also closely contested. The Bears won with a 68th-minute goal by junior Kenji Kobayashi off another Costakis corner kick. Despite the 2-1 scoreline, Wash. U. was outshot 10-7.

The Bears went up 1-0 in the third minute with a Roman breakaway goal, only to see the Violets equalize in the 40th minute off of a header. Roman poached a misplaced back pass and finished in the lower right corner. He leads the team with seven goals.

The Violets almost came back at the end on a breakaway chance that was saved by Jebson.

“[The NYU player] beat the right back down the wing and got a breakaway,” Jebson said. “I slid and stopped it with my hands, and we cleared it.”

Jebson said one thing he thinks the defense can work on is winning corner kicks and headers.

Wash. U. is now 12-1 overall and is in first place in the UAA, with a 3-0 in-conference record. The Bears are ranked eighth in the country and have outscored their opponents 32-9. Their only loss came against No. 15 Dominican University.

Powell and Walls both came to the school to join the men’s soccer team, but injuries led both to leave the team this season.

“I was on the soccer team freshman year. I traveled to Spain this summer, and when I got back, I found out I had mono,” Powell said. “Preseason time is really important for any sport, and the fact is that if you can’t make the tryouts and preseason play, you can’t really be gauged and can’t be a part of the team that season.

“[Head coach Joe Clarke] told me at one point that they were looking for people to do this, and I’m assuming they picked us because we’re so ingrained in the team, and it really is a close community. We know things that people on the outside probably wouldn’t know. It is a cool perspective to have as a broadcaster.”

Walls was in a similar situation after undergoing nasal surgery on his birthday over the summer.

“Over the summer, I had surgery for my allergies. Over the years, they have severely limited my endurance and breathing,” Walls said. “I knew that by the time I would be back in soccer shape, the team would be well into the season, so I decided to take a year off. Overall, I’m feeling a lot better and am excited to be playing again next year, breathing much better and able to run faster and for longer periods.”

Sports Information Director Chris Mitchell approached the pair about broadcasting the Bears’ home soccer games online. One month, and 13 games, later, both are comfortably working together to voice the games live on BearTV.

“The fact is I’m in charge of doing the PA and stats and making sure the broadcast goes smoothly, and it’s a lot on my plate for one person. I just talked to Coach Clarke to see if he had anybody who would be interested in broadcasting soccer, and he mentioned those two guys,” Mitchell, who broadcasted soccer the previous two years, said. “Now they do every game, and I think they’ve done a tremendous job.”

In their first year of broadcasting, Powell and Walls have already built up a following. A combined 1,003 unique connections have tuned in to listen to their broadcasts on BearTV.

“I have gotten tremendous feedback that says they have done a tremendous job,” Mitchell said. “Hopefully they can continue to do this. [I’ve gotten] great feedback from the parents [and] the fans. They’ve done a great job and I think it adds a lot to our soccer games.”

Their work this season has been an asset not only to fans and parents but also to student workers like sophomore Lucy Montgomery, who manages the live stats online during soccer games.

“Oftentimes it is hard to see who took a shot or things happen so quickly that you don’t see the number,” Montgomery said. “They always know who took that shot or who made the save or who had the assist, so as a stats person, I rely on them a lot as a back up. Their knowledge of the game is really in-depth, and they understand what is going on and do a good job putting that into words.”

Despite the success, Powell and Walls had their share of growing pains. However, they have worked through it together.

“At first, Eric and I didn’t really know who was going to do play-by-play and who would do color, and we sort of figured that out based on our personalities,” Powell said. “For the most part, I do some sort of color commentating, and he does most of the basic play-by-play stuff. It was a challenge at first, and I think we sort of got used to it, and that chemistry came to be.”

“Zev is the perfect co-broadcaster. We work really well together and are able to bounce ideas off each other frequently,” Walls added. “We cover each other well if the other loses his train of thought, which has happened a few times.”

Moving from the field to the booth took some getting used to for Powell, in terms of perspective and attitude. He used his training as a goalkeeper to adjust to broadcasting.

“I was a goalie, and I had to talk and communicate a lot, so I knew how to communicate in a commanding way. I just had to translate that into broadcasting,” Powell said. “I think you have to be conscious about completely different things when you’re on the field or off the field. You have to try and be impartial; we’re broadcasting to people from all over the country and from the opposing university. On the field, you can’t have any sort of sympathy for that, whereas you have to when you’re broadcasting, and that is definitely a huge difference.”

Tune in to Powell and Walls’ next broadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 19, as the men’s soccer team battles Illinois Wesleyan University at Francis Field. They go live on BearTV at bearsports.wustl.edu at 7:30 p.m.

“I enjoy all of it,” Walls said. “Watching the game, sitting in the box with all of the team’s facts in front of me, knowing that when I talk people are listening to my voice. This job has been all that I was hoping for and more.”

Senior Pat McLean headed in a goal–his sixth of the season–in the  match’s 16th minute off of a crossing pass that came after a corner kick. The shot was one of only two in the half for the Bears.

In the second half, Emory received a penalty kick chance in the 71st minute, and Emory’s Andrew Natalio buried the shot to tie the game at 1. The game would remain scoreless until the second overtime, when senior Kevin Privalle got a cross from McLean and buried it for his first goal of the season and the game-winner.

The Bears pulled out the win despite being outshot 26-7 and allowing seven shots on goal while only collecting four. Sophomore goalie Jonathan Jebson stopped six of seven shots on goal, three of which came in overtime.

Wash. U. improves to 10-1 in 2011 and is atop the University Athletic Association with a 2-0 conference record.